By this point, World of Warcraft guilds across most servers have defeated Deathwing in the new Dragon Soul raid. Duskwood, the home of Technologia — the official, unofficial guild of TechRepublic — is no exception. The following cinematic is the cut scene played at the end of the battle against Deathwing, after he falls into the Maelstrom.

Spoiler alert: If you are interested in learning the lore of Warcraft for yourself as you play the game, do not watch the video or read further.

In the video, we not only learn that the Cataclysm is over — thanks to Deathwing having plummeted into the Maelstrom moments before, we also learn that the Age of the Dragons is over. The remaining four Dragon Aspects’ powers are exhausted, and they are turned into mortals — even the sands of time are shown escaping from Nozdormu, the Aspect of Time’s shoulder. Further, Alexstraza, the Aspect of Life, reveals that Aggra, Thrall’s wife, is pregnant and that the dawning of a new age is beginning — the Age of Mortals. Mortals are to be Azeroth’s new guardians.

Deathwing may not be gone forever. Blizzard has conveniently allowed him to fall into the Maelstrom, thereby giving it the ability to bring him back in some future expansion. Nevertheless, the remaining Dragon Aspects have either “lost” or “given up” their powers — the video really isn’t clear. Either way, it’s always possible they could regain them as well. We’ll have to see how Blizzard handles this in future expansions, books, and other media.

Have you defeated Deathwing in the Dragon Soul raid yet? If so, what did you think of the encounter? Also, now that Thrall is done “saving the World (…of Warcraft),” what do you think he will do next? Will he return to Orgrimmar and lay into Garrosh or go his own way, leaving the horde to Garrosh’s leadership? Share your thoughts in the discussion.